Accountability

Says statutory filings and audit reports by CAs are public documents that multiple stakeholders rely on; urges adherence to fair and transparent practices

The Maharashtra Legislative Council on Tuesday passed two bills that will enable election of gram panchayat sarpanches, presidents of municipal councils and nagar panchayats directly by voters. The bills were cleared by the Legislative Assembly on Monday. Tabling the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965, in the Upper House, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the move was aimed at increasing accountability of these local bodies. So far, members of gram panchayats, municipal councils and nagar panchayats had been electing chiefs of these bodies. Opposing the bills, Ambadas Danve, the Leader of Opposition and Shiv Sena legislator, asked what would be the situation if the president is elected from one party, while councillors of another party have a majority. Danve and Eknath Khadse (NCP) asked Shinde the reason behind changing his stand as it was the Urban Development Department under him in the previous Uddhav Thackeray government that .

No industry wants regulations, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said adding, "but bringing regulation where needed, and to the extent needed, is government's responsibility, and we will bring (it)".

The first-ever CAG report on Noida highlights the fact that most of India's megacities rarely have their accounts audited

The CAG's auditing standards highlight the importance of performance audits for promoting transparency and evaluating outcomes

The cure might lie in things like improving market intelligence, responding to early signals, improving efficacy of prosecution, and understanding structures and inter-dependence, writes T N Ninan

Here's a collection of Business Standard Opinion pieces for the day

Don't expect non-executive directors to add to corporate governance